A wee bit about Lt Col Beltrame;
Lt-Col Beltrame started his career in the Army as a reserve officer in an Artillery regiment, then passed in 1999 the selective exam to enter the Ecole Militaire Interarmes (different from Ecole Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr, but located on the same campus). After the EMIA, he chose to join the Gendarmerie and went for further training to the Ecole des Officiers de la Gendarmerie Nationale. After graduating, he was selected to enter one of the components of the GIGN (Groupe d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale). He became a qualified HALO/HAHO free fall paratrooper and was deployed with his unit to Iraq in 2005, where he received the Croix de la Valeur Militaire (shortened VM in French military jargon), with one citation. At the time of his death, he was the 2IC of all Gendarmerie units in the Aude département (district). BTW, Castelnaudary is also located in the Aude, not to far actually (about 50 km) from where the attack took place.

__________________
"I believe that a knife should be bright and highly polished for the reason that 20% of the fight is lost by not striking awe in the mind of the victim that a flashing knife gives."
William Fairbairn

A wee bit about Lt Col Beltrame;
Lt-Col Beltrame started his career in the Army as a reserve officer in an Artillery regiment, then passed in 1999 the selective exam to enter the Ecole Militaire Interarmes (different from Ecole Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr, but located on the same campus). After the EMIA, he chose to join the Gendarmerie and went for further training to the Ecole des Officiers de la Gendarmerie Nationale. After graduating, he was selected to enter one of the components of the GIGN (Groupe d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale). He became a qualified HALO/HAHO free fall paratrooper and was deployed with his unit to Iraq in 2005, where he received the Croix de la Valeur Militaire (shortened VM in French military jargon), with one citation. At the time of his death, he was the 2IC of all Gendarmerie units in the Aude département (district). BTW, Castelnaudary is also located in the Aude, not to far actually (about 50 km) from where the attack took place.

Both units I had the honor serving with are in close proximity.

It seems that the perp was seen at the Regiment prior to shooting people in a car nearby, before heading towards the supermarket in Trebes.